CHAPTER 5

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‘It is partly a charity - school . You and I, and all the rest of us, are charity-children. I suppose you are an orphan. Are not either your father or your mother dead? ’

‘Both died before I can remember.’

‘Well, all the girls here have lost either one or both parents, and this is called an Institution for educating orphans.’

‘Do we pay no money? Do they keep us for nothing? ’

‘We pay, or our friends pay, fifteen pounds a year for each.’

‘Then why do they call us charity-children? ’

‘Because fifteen pounds is not enough for board and teaching and the deficiency is supplied by subscription .’

‘Who subscribes? ’

‘Different benevolent-minded ladies and gentlemen in this neighbourhood and in London.’

‘Who was Naomi Brocklehurst? ’

‘The lady who built the new part of this house, as that tablet records, and whose son overlooks and directs everything here.’

‘Why? ’

‘Because he is treasurer and manager of the establishment .’

‘Then this house does not belong to that tall lady who wears a watch, and who said we were to have some bread and cheese? ’

‘To Miss Temple? Oh, no! I wish it did. She has to answer to Mr. Brocklehurst for all she does. Mr. Brocklehurst buys all our food and all our clothes.’

‘Does he live here? ’

‘No—two miles off, at a large hall.’

‘Is he a good man? ’

‘He is a clergyman , and is said to do a great deal of good.’

‘Did you say that tall lady was called Miss Temple? ’

‘Yes.’

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